Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses E-Book

Robert C. Hauhart

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 489

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Enrich your students and the institution with a high-impact practice Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses is a practical, research-backed guide to creating a course that is valuable for both the student and the school. The book covers the design, administration, and teaching of capstone courses throughout the undergraduate curriculum, guiding departments seeking to add a capstone course, and allowing those who have one to compare it to others in the discipline. The ideas presented in the book are supported by regional and national surveys that help the reader understand what's common, what's exceptional, what works, and what doesn't within capstone courses. The authors also provide additional information specific to different departments across the curriculum, including STEM, social sciences, humanities, fine arts, education, and professional programs. Identified as a high-impact practice by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities' LEAP initiative, capstone courses culminate a student's final college years in a project that integrates and applies what they've learned. The project takes the form of a research paper, a performance, a portfolio, or an exhibit, and is intended to showcase the student's very best work as a graduating senior. This book is a guide to creating for your school or department a capstone course that ties together undergraduate learning in a way that enriches the student and adds value to the college experience. * Understand what makes capstone courses valuable for graduating students * Discover the factors that make a capstone course effective, and compare existing programs, both within academic disciplines and across institutions * Learn administrative and pedagogical techniques that increase the course's success * Examine discipline-specific considerations for design, administration, and instruction Capstones are generally offered in departmental programs, but are becoming increasingly common in general education as well. Faculty and administrators looking to add a capstone course or revive an existing one need to understand what constitutes an effective program. Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses provides an easily digested summary of existing research, and offers expert guidance on making your capstone course successful.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Praise for Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses

Title Page

Copyright

Preface: The Importance of Senior Capstones in Contemporary American Higher Education

The Plan of This Book

How to Use Our Book

The Authors

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Overview of the Capstone Course

The History of the Capstone Course in the College Curriculum

Sources of Modern Influence

Where Things Stand: The Capstone Course in the New Millennium

The Importance of Examining the Negative Case

Supporting the Disciplinary versus the Interdisciplinary Capstone

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 2: The Role of the Capstone Course in the Curriculum

Capstone Curricular and Learning Objectives

Capstone Goals in Sociology: An Illustrative Case Study

Contemporary Capstone Goals Viewed across the Liberal Arts Curriculum

Connecting Capstone Goals to the Rest of the Curriculum

Connecting Capstone Goals to Life after Graduation

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 3: Characteristics of the Capstone Course

Multidisciplinary, Multi-Institutional Studies

Defining the Typical Contemporary Capstone Course

Classroom Activities

Completing the Major Paper

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 4: The Role and Design of Research Projects Leading to the Capstone Experience

Capstone Experiences and Undergraduate Research Opportunities

The Rationale for Undergraduate Research: A High-Impact Practice

Types of Research Experiences and Differential Outcomes

Costs and Benefits of Undergraduate Research Projects

Incorporating Undergraduate Research in the Curriculum

Mapping Student Journeys onto the Generic Undergraduate Research Project

Undergraduate Research as Preparation for the Capstone Course

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 5: Research Project Impediments and Possibilities

A Crisis of Confidence in Empirical Research

Impediments to Successful Project Completion

Responding to Research Impediments

Capstone Projects and Their Potential Contributions to Professional Research

Collaborative Undergraduate Research across Multiple Institutions

Transformative Student Experiences from Authentic Research

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 6: Designing the Capstone Course

Four Foundational Components of Capstone Course Design

Structural Characteristics

Building the Internal Structure of a Senior Capstone Course

Building a Framework of Sound Expectations

Other Project Parameters for Typical Capstones

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 7: Teaching the Capstone Course

Sticking with the Capstone Course Plan

Aligning Student Expectations with Course Requirements

Guiding Student Expectations with Feedback

Confronting Weak Preparation and Poor Motivation Structurally

Maintaining a Strong Core Curriculum

Addressing Lack of Student Preparedness and Motivation in the Capstone Course

Forestalling Procrastination

Life Development as an Impediment

Using Peer Review Effectively

Identifying More Specific Learning Outcomes

Increased Support from Information Literacy and Writing Centers

Letting Students Decide

Maintaining Effective Role Relationships in Internship Capstones

Incentivizing Better Students

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 8: Using the Capstone Course for Assessment

The Assessment Movement in Higher Education

Using the Senior Capstone Course for Program Assessment

Capstone Assessment: Externally Driven, Internally Desired, or Both?

Using the Capstone Course to Meet External Certification Requirements

Objectives for General Education Capstone Assessment

Capstone Course Assessment within an Academic Discipline

Using Rubrics to Evaluate the Major Paper or Senior Thesis

Assessing the Professional Issues and Senior Transition Capstone Course

Conclusion

Notes

Chapter 9: Conclusion: An Ideal Capstone Course

Interdisciplinary or Disciplinary?

The Ideal Capstone Course

Conclusion

References

Name Index

Subject Index

End User License Agreement

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Guide

Cover

Table of Contents

Preface

Begin Reading

List of Illustrations

Figure 4.1

Figure 4.2

Figure 4.3

Figure 8.1

List of Tables

Table 3.1

Table 3.2

Praise for Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses

“Hauhart and Grahe have provided a road map for how to develop the undergraduate capstone course to fully engage students.”

—Nancy H. Hensel, president, New American Colleges & Universities, and former executive officer, Council on Undergraduate Research

“Any department or faculty member implementing or revising a senior capstone course will find that this book offers useful background research in student development, teaching, and learning in a single source. The authors provide a variety of valuable techniques for managing faculty workload and creating quality student outcomes using examples from institutions of varying size and type.”

—Julio Rivera, past president, Council on Undergraduate Research, and professor of management and marketing & geography and earth science, Carthage College

“A unique contribution to the literature and to practice, this book provides long-needed insights and guidance on the critical components of a capstone experience. These insights will resonate with curriculum developers, faculty, and managers in universities across the world. It will be of intense interest to all those who share the challenge and exhilaration of delivering the culminating student experience that is an undergraduate capstone or final year project.”

—Nicolette Lee, associate professor, Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching National Senior Teaching Fellow, Victoria University

“In the best tradition of Boyer's scholarship of teaching, Hauhart and Grahe provide both a systematic scholarly review of capstone courses in higher education and an insightful practical guide for designing and delivering capstones in all institutional settings. Drawing on faculty and student experiences, they demonstrate the great learning possibilities of capstones and outline a well thought-out set of best practices to evoke the best from students. This will certainly be the definitive resource for capstone faculty in the years ahead.”

—Theodore E. Long, president emeritus, Elizabethtown College

“This book provides readers—faculty and academic administrators alike—with a well-grounded and comprehensive treatment of one of the most under-appreciated, and at times misunderstood, courses in the undergraduate curriculum: the senior capstone. Anyone in the academy interested in helping students better understand and make meaning of their undergraduate experience should keep this rich resource close at hand.”

—Mary Stuart Hunter, National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina

“

Designing and Teaching Undergraduate Capstone Courses

is the only comprehensive guide to capstone courses in the social sciences. It contains useful reviews of the literature, specific guidelines, and many examples.”

—Theodore C. Wagenaar, professor of sociology, Miami University

“A comprehensive guide for improving capstone experiences and value—across disciplines—for faculty and administration and, most important, our students. This book makes a significant contribution to the increasing knowledge and pedagogy of capstone experiences in higher education.”

—Jean Johnson, chair, Society for the Teaching of Psychology National Capstone Project; associate professor emeritus, Governors State University

Designing and TeachingUndergraduateCapstone Courses

Robert C. Hauhart and Jon E. Grahe

Consulting Editor, Maryellen Weimer

Cover design by Lauryn Tom

Cover image: © iStockphoto | ma_rish

Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hauhart, Robert C., date-

Designing and teaching undergraduate capstone courses / Robert C. Hauhart, Jon E. Grahe.—1

1 online resource.—(Designing and teaching undergraduate capstone courses)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN 978-1-118-76196-0 (pdf)—ISBN 978-1-118-76200-4 (epub)—ISBN 978-1-118-76187-8 (pbk.) 1. Competency-based educational tests. 2. College students—Rating of. I. Grahe, Jon E., 1970- II. Title.

LC1034

375'.001—dc23

2014041871

Preface: The Importance of Senior Capstones in Contemporary American Higher Education

Even a brief review and discussion of the contemporary importance of the capstone in American colleges and universities suggests that the senior capstone has become a common feature of many curricula across the higher education landscape. The simple fact that a course has been adopted by many programs provides a persuasive argument for the importance of the topic generally. It would be a mistake to permit any curricular innovation as widespread as the senior capstone has become to escape examination, analysis, and review. Our book is intended to contribute to the emerging interest in designing and conducting effective senior capstones across the higher education curriculum. We conclude by laying out the plan for the book.

Many of you who have selected this book are already convinced of the importance of senior seminars or capstone courses within your discipline. There are many reasons that support your view. One is the sheer number of senior seminar or capstone courses currently offered in American colleges and universities. For example, we compared various national studies of capstone courses and estimated that over 70 percent of American baccalaureate-conferring institutions offer capstone experiences for academic credit. Considering the fact that there are more than eighteen hundred higher education institutions granting bachelor's degrees in the United States alone, graduating 1.5 million students annually, we can reasonably estimate that between 930,000 and 1,030,000 students throughout the country participate in a capstone experience each year. This is an extraordinary number. While numbers alone cannot dictate the importance of the senior seminar or capstone, no discipline or institution can ignore an experience that so many graduates will share.

There are, of course, many other reasons that the senior capstone course is worthy of our time and effort. As the culminating experience for students' undergraduate careers, the capstone is intended to tie together previous courses in theory, method, and substantive knowledge within most disciplines. There are many names and titles for capstone courses, as we shall see, but a common term that educators use to distill the essence of these courses and convey this goal is whether the word appears in the title or catalogue description of the course or not (Boysen, 2010; Ault & Multhaup, 2003; Heise, 1992). Capstone courses also provide students with a final opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of important skills before they graduate. Creating an environment in which both synthesis of prior learning and exhibition of learned skill sets can be accomplished in a single setting is a daunting task for any course, especially a one-semester course, as many capstones remain. Therefore, it behooves us to devote suitable attention to the design and implementation of the senior seminar class. Interdisciplinary capstones attempt perhaps even a more challenging task: to tie together the particular emphases within a discipline to the broader learning sought by a general education program or the liberal arts generally. In either case, the capstone experience warrants our critical examination, as the editor of acknowledged by dedicating the fall 2013 (vol. 15, no. 4) issue solely to its discussion.